Oklahoma State Basketball: Don't Stop Believin (Yet)
by CincyJoe on Jan 16, 2012 5:00 PM CST
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PrintJust a few thoughts on the Baylor loss and a look at the next two games.
I know that we lost by 40 and gave up more than 100 points in 40 minutes. But if you watched the game, it was a classic example of being overwhelmed by a great team on the road. The Cowboys played reasonably well in the first half, and the wheels didn't really start to fall off until the end of it. Keiton Page's shot was off and unfortunately, we probably aren't going to ever win a game when he's not hitting his shots. That's just the unfortunate spot we're in this year.
In my opinion, the team realized this early in the second half and could not overcome it mentally. They just aren't a seasoned enough team to deal with a 10-20-30 point deficit on the road. Add to that a cold shooting day from their leader and it quickly becomes a hopeless environment.
Basketball is a very mental sport and the Cowboys just aren't mentally tough right now. A lot of that can be attributed to youth. Young teams are very rarely successful without senior leadership. Fortunately, a road loss to the #4 team in the country is not the end of the season.
The Cowboys currently sit at 2-2 in conference play and have 2 winnable games coming up @ Iowa State and then Kansas State at home. It seems reasonable to me that they could find a way to win those two. A 4-2 conference record heading in to a home game against #5 Missouri would be exciting. So don't stop believing in this team just yet. It's not over, yet.
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Iowa State is very solid this year
I think K-State at home is more plausible than a road win in Ames. Not to say K-State isn’t a better team than ISU but winning in Ames is tough when we’ve had good teams against mediocre ISU teams…this year it’s a mediocre (at best) OSU team against a pretty darn good ISU team
I have to disagree here
First off, we were down 15 at the half, so we weren’t exactly all that great in the first half
I attribute some of the struggles, of course, to youth, but most of it is coaching. You have to put your players in a position to succeed by getting high percentage shots. That just doesn’t happen with Ford teams. We continually jack up 3s, or try to go one on one. I’d like to see more movement away from the ball. You have to block out, find a body, and win the battle of the boards, as well. We have athletic players, and these guys have more talent than a 9-8 team. Yet, here we are.
Also, I don’t know that we have much of a shot against Iowa State. When was the last time we won a conference road game?
Kansas State ended Missouri’s unbeaten stretch, and they are a good team. GIA isn’t what it used to be only a few years ago, and I would say we aren’t favored in that game, but we play better at home and have a chance there.
Any time you need your 5 ft nothin’ guard to be your leading scorer it just doesn’t work. Page should be a role player on a team, and he would be really valuable and successful. The problem is, Page isn’t good enough to create his own shot, outside of his shot fake, and he is a defensive liability.
A baseball game is simply a nervous breakdown divided into nine innings.
by NothinG on Jan 17, 2012 1:28 AM CST via Android app reply actions
Thanks for the correction of the halftime score and good post..
Agree with you completely on the coaching, Iowa State and Page. The last conference road game we won was coincidentally, Iowa State 2 years ago.
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In the first half of the Baylor game
Things I liked… The handful of possessions when we would move the ball around, get it to Cobbins at the free throw line and have guys slash to open spots.
That was about it. Pretty ugly game. Kind of glad KU beat em pretty good last night.
Baylor is fool's gold.
They’re super athletic but they’ll get beaten by teams that are better coached. To add to that, when they go against a team that has the same caliber athletes as they do AND they are better coached, Baylor will see double digit losses…aka Kansas last night.
Cowboys Ride For Free
by Royal John on Jan 17, 2012 9:31 AM CST via mobile up reply actions
So what does that make us?
Learning to love the soft zone, 600 yards at a time,
www.cowboysrideforfree.com, the best Oklahoma State blog on the net (and also the drunkest)
by AUKingOState on Jan 17, 2012 9:54 AM CST via mobile up reply actions
Fool's Bronze
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by CincyJoe on Jan 17, 2012 10:57 AM CST up reply actions 1 recs
I hate Baylor
but to be fair, there aren’t many team that are as athletic and well coached as Kansas. I think they’ll see the sweet 16 at worst.
Oklahoma State on SB Nation
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So, will we lose by more or less to ku than we did to Baylor?
Learning to love the soft zone, 600 yards at a time,
www.cowboysrideforfree.com, the best Oklahoma State blog on the net (and also the drunkest)
by AUKingOState on Jan 17, 2012 11:49 AM CST via mobile up reply actions
Less
But I disagree with Upgrayedd a little. Sure Self will pull the starters long before it gets to 40, but this years’ Kansas team is not as consistent as usual. I think Kansas got really jacked to play #3 in Lawrence and played as well as they could. I think OSU will not get their players’ attention like Baylor did. I honestly believe that on their best day in GIA OSU could beat Kansas this year. No real deep analysis behind that opinion, but this is not the same Kansas that won the Big12 the last 7 years. Texas is down, OU proved K-State is beatable, I haven’t seen enough of Mizzou to form a strong opinion. Add in the double round-robbin schedule, and I’d wager the conference gets won by a team with 4 or more conference losses this year. I think well see the top teams in the league with some head-scratcher losses this year.
For what it's worth...
by Something Witty on Jan 17, 2012 1:48 PM CST up reply actions
I think they'll see the Sweet 16 at best...
Depending on their draw. Seriously, if a well coached team with less talent plays them, they’ll keep it extremely close if not win altogether.
Cowboys Ride For Free
I don't buy the whole "Self won't run it up" bit
They beat us by 30 last year.
Oklahoma State on SB Nation
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